EXTRAORDINARY CHARGE AGAINST A PARISH PRIEST.

Evening Star, Issue 3205, 29 May 1873, Page 3

EXTRAORDINARY CHARGE AGAINST A PARISH PRIEST.

An extraordinary case has been before tbe Irish Court of Exchequer. It is an action by » Mrs Sheridan against her parish priest, ( the Rev. Mr Judge, for false arrest and malicious prosecution “in respect of a sacrilegious outrage committed last May in smearing tar on the pews of the Roman Catholic chapel of Bobola, county Mayo.” Mr Judge is accused of having denounced Mrs. Sheridan from the altar as the doer of the deed, and of having had her arrested falsely by the police. The testimony has been of a strange character. John Sheridan, plaintiffs stepson, said that on Sunday, tbe 19th of May, the Rev. Mr Judge, speaking of the tarring of thee eats, said he wan at the time looking at the person who did it, and he pointed to the plaintiff, and named her. Then in an excited state, he quenched the candles, turned the nuss-book. jumped upon the altar, and cursed the guilty parties. At the second mass the Rev. Mr Judge said he was sorry for having been so excited in the morning, but he referred to a family in tbe connty who had been cursed by the priest, and had s nee disappeared- a fate which would happen to the person who had tarred the seats, and to whom he had alluded at first mass. He then said ; “ A*ay tbe arm that is now sick be stretched powerless fey her side before this day twelve months ” Was your stepmother’s arm (the witness was asked) powerless at the time ?—lt was. From what cause 1-Her arm was accidentally crushed by a beam a few days before. Margaret Clarke, plaintiff’s niece, in her testimony, also said that, at mass, the Rev. Mr Judge officiated in his vestments, after which he alluded to the tarring of the seats, quenched tbe candles, turned the mass-book, and cursed the guiltv parties, adding, “I am looking now at the person who did this, and could leave my hand on her, and that is Mrs Sheridan.” At the second ’ mass, the curate, Mr Gallagher, officiated. When it was over, Mr Judge, who Wore his stole and soutane, addressed the congregation. The examination was continued, and the witn°«s was asked What did the Rev. Mr Judge say then?— He apologised for what be said in the morning, saying that he was excited and in a passion: but he added, “My words are gone before the Throne of Heaven and before the Judge, from whom I hope there will be revenge.” He also stated that he knew a family in the county Sligo with whom the priest fell out. He cursed them from the altar, and after a short they all disappeared, and the grass grew over the bouse where they lived. The same, he said, would happen to tbe party to whom be bad referred before a year had passed, adding, “May the arm that is now sick sling dead and powerlesa-byJher side.” William Clarke deposed that, immediately after second mass, hosaw Mr Judge going on tbe platform in front of the altar, and) heard him say that what he said at first mass was gone up—that he had never cursed before but once, and that was a dog that bit him, and the dog went mad. The case was going on.